THE MANAGEMENT OF HOUNDS 



better. With the old-fashioned bag they might 

 run a field "down wind" of the hne, and still 

 carry the scent breast high ; in fact, the field 

 could smell it themselves. This is what spoils 

 drag hounds and makes them so careless that, 

 finally, they will own nothing less rank, so spoiled 

 are their noses. The drag should also end near 

 a grove, wall, or some such place, as if the quarry 

 had escaped, and not, as generally the case, in 

 the middle of a big field, where hounds check, 

 stare about, and finally act as if they fully real- 

 ized how they had been fooled. The checks 

 should be arranged in the same way, and if pos- 

 sible (especially in summer) occur at or near a 

 river, brook, or spring, where the exhausted 

 brutes can lap a little water and wallow a few 

 minutes, to cool their over-heated bodies. Many 

 a fit and case of over-exhaustion will thereby be 

 frustrated, and then again, any fox might have 

 thrown them off there. If stone walls are plenti- 

 ful, or fences are close-made, order the dragsman 

 to always take his drag through or near to bar- 

 ways and gaps. Hounds are thus saved much 

 useless labor in jumping, and your object must 

 be, with the small pack at your disposal, to keep 

 them as fresh as possible, and to avoid all unnec- 



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